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Saturday, Sep 06, 2008
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The Story of the Keiskamma Altarpiece |
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| The Story of the Keiskamma Altarpiece | ||
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Saint Mark's Episcopal Cathedral is honored to house the Keiskamma Altarpiece from June through September 2007. The Altarpiece illustrates how a common humanity responding to the suffering and loss around them take steps that eventually lead to their own personal transformation and that of the communities around them. The Altarpiece is named for the Keiskamma River valley in South Africa's largely rural Eastern Cape Province. Ten thousand miles away from Seattle, is another coastal town, the community of Hamburg, which sits on the Keiskamma River in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The Keiskamma Altarpiece was the idea of Dr. Carol Hofmeyr who in 2002 established the area's only AIDS hospice and treatment center. She decided to use the famous Isenheim Altarpiece as a model and suggested to the community that they make a similar Altarpiece to tell their own personal stories of loss and redemption. The Altarpiece depicts the story of how the community moved from fear of how HIV/AIDS was killing 30% of the population to relief as they learned how the disease was spread and received information about treatment and how to avoid the spreading epidemic in the community. It tells the story of events of the New Testament from the point of view of people from the Keiskamma region who live in the midst of AIDS, poverty and other hardships. Community discussions about the Isenheim Altarpiece led to a preliminary set of drawings by one of the women, Nozimasile Makubalo. Working from those sketches, four young art students from the village--Nokupiwe Gedze, Cebo Mvubu, Nomfusi Nkani, and Kwanele Ghanto--translated the drawings onto cloth panels. Then teams of women transformed the stenciled designs into embroidery. The Altarpiece was made by 120 people, mostly women and built on the exact same dimensions, (13 ft. x 22ft) as the Isenheim Altarpiece. To complete it, the women worked in teams of ten on different sections over a 6-month period. The Keiskamma Altarpiece is constructed of wood and includes many different types of artistic representation, including embroidery - both flat stitch as well as "stump" stitch - appliqué, beadwork, wired - three dimensional bead work, and photography. "Stump stitch" embroidery is a style that actually sews over rolled batting and provides a three dimensional effect to the Altarpiece. The Altarpiece is comprised of three panels that open like a cupboard to tell the story. The first panel presents in somber tones compelling images that convey the story of how the children were being orphaned by AIDS and feature the grandparents who care for them. The second of the three layers of panels presents a vision of hope, redemption and restoration. The vibrantly colored images depict trees, birds, cattle, fish, and traditional life and worship in the village. This idealized picture of Hamburg and environs includes the image of a local prophet in red, running through the sand to make decorative prayer patterns with his feet. The third and innermost layer of panels portrays resurrection through the wisdom of the elderly and the hope for new generations. Dramatic life-size photographs printed on canvas show three local grandmothers and their orphaned grandchildren. This section was fabricated by Ardwork Jange from a Cape Town organization, Streetwise, along with local Ntilini women. Each layer of the altar is dense with embroidery, appliqué, and beadwork, with the last layer a combination of sculptural wire beadwork and photographs. In making this work, the 120-plus community artists hoped to draw a parallel between AIDS and other diseases that seemed hopeless and now no longer exist, thereby offering hope to people living with HIV and AIDS, and indeed to all of us. The artists also wanted to show that, although they feel cut off and alone in their suffering, they are part of the whole of humanity, past and present, who have had to deal with terrible afflictions. |
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